Read the letter then read more about Tomas and his decision to discontinue the lifegiving care his has received for 9-years since being shot by a sniper while on active duty in Iraq.

The NPR story turns it into a discussion about the rate of suicide by veterans and the right of a person to make a choice of when to die.

But the real story is personal. This is the life of a person. It’s similar to yesterday’s story. Tomas lived. He fought for his country – in the name of our rights and freedom. He was forgotten by the country he fought for, but he kept fighting to live. He married. His family has loved him and stood beside him. And Tomas finally can’t fight anymore.

It’s up to us – you and I – to raise our voices for these men and women. This isn’t a fad – “Oh, today we’ll help vets and tomorrow, small dogs!” – because these are real people who did what they were asked, believed in their leaders, believed in us. We owe them.

We owe them our time. We owe them our respect. We owe them our outrage at politicians of the past and that we will hold the present and future to stand-up for their actions.

And, at this time, we owe Tomas the right to die on his terms and with dignity.